In the field of roofing it is an essential to provide some means of support for roofers to prevent slipping or falling from an inclined roof. Typically, this includes a length of board laid across at least a pair of supports. This board, or scaffold, is used to support a portion of the weight of a roofer, and depending upon the orientation of the board with respect to the horizontal, may be used to support tools or other items employed by roofers. It is known that roofers typically use the present type of scaffolding by sitting on the roof surface and resting the downside foot on the top surface of the board. Thus, it can be seen that, for the roofer's maximum protection from slipping, the board should be inclined to be approximately normal to the roof surface. It is also known that roofers cannot always carry an assortment of boards, and therefore do not always have available the correct size board for the scaffold supports used, thus, the roofers are inclined to place a board of the wrong width on the supports. This practice can be readily seen to be dangerous as an improper board width makes impossible the proper fixing of the board with respect to the support. Thus, for the maximum protection of the roofer, the scaffold support should provide a means for inclining the boards and for adjusting to varying widths of boards.
In the first Office Action to the original application, the Examiner cited a number of references material to the prosecution of the application. These references include U.S. Pat. Nos. 285,164 issued to P. W. Ryan on Sep. 18, 1883; 1,172,227 issued to E.A. Schade on Feb. 15, 1916; 1,241,335 issued to J. R. Boyd on Sep. 25, 1917; 1,255,692 issued to D. B. Bearden on Feb. 5, 1918; 1,562,965 issued to H. A. Hubschmitt, Jr. on Nov. 24, 1925; 1,639,352 issued to E. A. Schade on Aug. 16, 1927; 1,886,921 issued to R. J. Tobin on Nov. 8, 1932; and 4,946,123 issued to R. P. Albert on Aug. 7, 1990.
In addition to these, other devices have been constructed to serve these purposes. Typical of the art are those devices disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 687,666 issued to F. L. Spring on Nov. 26, 1901; 1,111,707 issued to O. Schorn on Sep. 22, 1914; 1,159,216 issued to G. H. Hans on Nov. 2, 1915; 1,592,384 issued to A. G. Peck on Jul. 13, 1926; 1,691,478 issued to A. P. Henderson on Nov. 13, 1928; 1,827,491 issued to E. T. Spillman on Oct. 13, 1931; 2,496,556 issued to A. J. Nelson on Feb. 7, 1950; 4,856,745 issued to D. Mabie on Aug. 15, 1989; and 4,884,775 issued to K. W. Fischer, Jr. on Dec. 5, 1989.
Of these devices, none provides for the inclination of the board to a position approximately normal to the roof while also providing an adjustment means for adjusting to the various widths of boards which may be employed.
Therefore, it is an object of this invention to provide a means for supporting a scaffold used to support roofers when working on an inclined roof.
It is also an object of this invention to provide a roofing jack whereby the scaffold is oriented in a plane substantially normal to the roof surface.
Another object of this invention is to provide a roof jack which may be adjusted to secure various widths of scaffold boards.
Still another object of this invention is to provide a means for securing the adjustment means when not in use such that the adjustment means is not misplaced when removed.
Yet another object of this invention is to provide a means such that the roof jack may be easily attached and removed from the roof surface.